Chapter 5: Upheaval

The sky was just beginning to brighten. Liu Chengzong had already fed the horses and was standing in the courtyard brushing his teeth, a leather-lined jacket draped over his shoulders, when a messenger soldier standing on the roof of the cave-dwelling courtyard house announced that today's grand drill was canceled.

The border troops had minor drills every day, led by squad officers, and a grand drill every five days, where the garrison commander led the entire battalion in training.

When they could eat their fill, their training intensity was immense. In the past, whenever He Renlong managed to scrounge up some grain and fodder from elsewhere, just five straight days of full meals meant he would inevitably make every officer and soldier in the fort carry eighty jin of gear and three days' rations out of the fort to complete high-intensity training in marching, camp formations, and trench digging.

Now, with grain and fodder supplies failing, training had become a matter of spirit willing but flesh weak. Squad officers generally focused on formation drills, their intent being to restrain the soldiers and keep them from going out to cause trouble.

Under conditions of no military pay and halved rations, even the shrewdest commander could do no more than merely restrain them.

Improvement was utterly out of the question, and even maintaining discipline was difficult. As long as the soldiers could be restrained from fleeing the fort to plunder the common people, that was considered doing right by His Aged Majesty the Emperor.

Were it not so, a task like hunting outside the fort would never have fallen on the shoulders of a picked retainer like Liu Chengzong.

Where in the world was the sense in sending your most elite soldiers out to hunt for a living?

Early in the morning, he went to the gruel kitchen and drank a bowl of gruel, then led Red Flag and Little Whirlwind out of the city for a stroll. Unfortunately, he spotted no game.

He had intended to return to the fort before noon to check if the wild goose had finished stewing, but just as he reached the city gate, he saw Little Sixteen waiting for him. The boy spotted him from afar and shouted, "Brother Lion, come back quick!"

He led him straight toward Liu Chengzu's barracks.

"What's going on?"

"The squad commander was called to the council hall by the general at noon. When he came back, he told me to find you — get to the barracks right away."

Along the way, he saw people in other courtyards, brows furrowed in worry, hoisting their baggage onto the backs of mules and horses. It made Liu Chengzong's heart thump wildly, a sense of unease growing stronger. He thought to himself: Are we mobilizing?

Mobilizing without even a single full meal?

But the drum and bell tower on the street had not sounded.

When he reached the top of Liu Chengzu's barracks courtyard, he saw quite a few familiar border soldiers from other squads standing inside the cave-dwelling compound. Some wore armor, others just padded jackets with their weapons, each carrying a traveling pack.

At the door of the squad commander's barracks, Liu Chengzu stood in his mandarin-duck battle jacket under a red cloth-faced iron armor, holding a two-panel northern army helmet. He tore the small flag from the helmet spike, looked up to see his younger brother on the roof, and beckoned, "Come down. Trouble's afoot. Sixteen, you come in too and help me pack."

With that, he turned and went inside the barracks.

Liu Chengzong exchanged greetings with the familiar faces in the courtyard as he walked. Entering the barracks, he saw Squad Commander Cao Yao, a scar across his forehead, sitting on the heated brick bed. He asked, "Elder Brother, what's happened?"

Liu Chengzu pulled a map from the wall, rolled it up, and handed it to Sixteen, who had followed him in, telling him to tie it with cord. He gestured for Liu Chengzong to sit on the bed and said, "This morning the general summoned us to council. Well... the situation is not good."

His elder brother's expression was extraordinarily complicated, unsure where to begin. He looked up at Liu Chengzong and said, "Military Governor Wu of the Three Frontiers of Shaanxi has committed suicide."

Wu Zhiwang, the Supreme Commander of the Three Frontiers of Shaanxi, was a divine physician.

He had served as Military Defense Circuit Intendant of Haizhou and Gaizhou, then as Military Defense Intendant of Yongping with the concurrent title of Shandong Surveillance Vice Commissioner, and later succeeded Yuan Keli as Grand Coordinator of Dengzhou and Laizhou. He could not get along with Mao Wenlong — the two often traded insults in official dispatches — so last year he was transferred to the Three Frontiers of Shaanxi to serve as Supreme Commander.

It had not even been a full year yet.

"Sui— how could he commit suicide?"

Liu Chengzu removed his helmet and scratched his head, frowning. "The Guyuan Garrison mutinied. The border troops rioted over pay, on the day of the Longevity Festival in the twelfth month last year. The supreme commander and grand coordinator both suppressed the news and didn't report it to the court. This year, the mutinous units have turned and attacked Jingyang, Fuping, and Sanyuan, and even captured a Mobile Corps Commander named Li Ying."

"In the dispatches the general brought back from Yulin, Luochuan, Chunhua, Sanshui, Lueyang, Qingshui, Cheng County, Hancheng, Yijun, Zhongbu, Shiquan, Yichuan, Suide, Jiazhou, Yao, Jingning, Tong Pass, Yangping Pass, Jinsuo Pass, and other places all have roving bandits.

The dead are dead; those still alive will likely find it hard to escape punishment."

Liu Chengzong opened his mouth, but a thousand emotions choked in his throat. He could not utter a single word.

In his memory, there was the great Shaanxi uprising before the fall of the Great Ming — the uprising that would ultimately storm Beijing and topple the dynasty. He just had never imagined that he himself... was already in the midst of it.

"The court is busy fighting the eastern barbarians. Silver and grain are all being shipped to the Liao garrison. They simply cannot spare anything to pay us. The general went to Yulin and not only failed to secure any military pay, but had over a dozen horses forcibly taken by Regional Commander Wu. There was truly no way out. Administration Vice Commissioner Hong gave him an idea: pocket the pay of phantom soldiers."

Regional Commander Wu's name was Wu Zimian. He was like a merchant — whatever grain and horses in the army could be embezzled, he embezzled, then turned around and sold them. A man of considerable ability.

The border officers and soldiers all detested him. Every morning, the moment the men in the barracks woke up, their entertainment was to curse each other out without naming names — those with grievances aired their grievances, those with grudges settled their grudges. In any case, everyone assumed the other party was cursing Wu Zimian.

A regional commander like this effectively mended any rifts that might have existed among the troops, keeping everyone as close as brothers at all times.

The border troops of Yansui Garrison probably all hoped he would be transferred or dismissed sometime soon.

"Pocket phantom pay?"

"Right. Retainers are supposed to receive double rations and double pay. Now the court gives no military pay to the border troops, and in these famine years, the grain delivered from nearby has been halved — but at least it can still keep one man fed."

Liu Chengzu sighed as he spoke, raising a hand to stroke the short whiskers on his chin. "The general inflated the retainer count by four hundred sixty."

"If the court approves rations for two hundred men, the border troops in the fort won't be so hungry that all they think about is running. If they approve four hundred, three days of full meals and we could march out for field combat. However..."

His elder brother's tone shifted. "It will still take time for the court to approve the retainer grain and fodder. The remaining stores in the fort won't last even a month, even if it's just millet gruel.

When the time comes to use troops, they'll have to move before autumn. If the retainer grain isn't approved in sufficient amounts and the soldiers hear they still have to fight on empty stomachs, they'll only run all the faster.

So the general plans to take a risk and scatter the troops a bit — release some men to form small squads and forage for themselves. Whether they beg along the streets or flee into the forests to fend for themselves, or, for the bold ones, join the rebel armies and bandit gangs, it doesn't matter."

As Liu Chengzu spoke, he shook his head helplessly. "I heard that the general's idea seems to have received private approval from Administration Vice Commissioner Hong. Nominally, it's to plant agents among the many rebel and bandit forces, but in reality, it's just so they can find a mouthful of food for themselves."

Administration Vice Commissioner Hong — that was Hong Chengchou, the Grain Administration Vice Commissioner of Shaanxi.

Liu Chengzong more or less understood what this meant. "In that case, I'm afraid the men released won't be coming back."

"Certainly, most won't return. But with grain and fodder running out now, rather than let the soldiers become deserters, it's better to let them go willingly. Even if we don't release them, deserters will only multiply — and desertion is a crime.

Men released by the general himself — if the general earns battle merits later, or if the court issues grain — there's still a chance they'll return.

These men need officers to lead them, so the battalion commanders and squad commanders drew lots in the council hall. Those who drew the long lots stay; those who drew the short lots go."

Having poured all this out in one breath, Liu Chengzu looked considerably more at ease. He let out a long sigh — it was hard to tell whether it was the weight of heavy responsibility or a sense of relief — and only then slowly extended his hand.

A half-length wooden lot lay in his palm.

Cao Yao, sitting on the heated brick bed, did not look nearly as grave as the two brothers. He chuckled, raised his hand, and tossed something onto the table — another short lot.

"We two got picked. Lion, coming with your big brothers?"

Notes:

①. Once the soldiers are selected with precision and the ranks are solidly formed, strict training methods must be imposed to rouse the languid spirit. Each battalion of three thousand, having its commanding officer to lead it, shall also appoint one circuit official to oversee it. Every five days, a grand drill; every day, a minor drill. The grand drill assembles the men and horses of one entire battalion for exercise. It begins with encamping and drilling formations. No longer shall the former frivolity be permitted — it must be as if facing the enemy in battle. Orders repeated and injunctions reiterated, discipline shall be awe-inspiring. Advancing left, retreating right, combat shall follow the rules without disorder. The formation shall be round and its momentum unbroken. The slightest error shall be met with severe punishment. — Huang Ming Jingshi Wenbian, Volume 238, Memorial of Zeng Xian

②. Wu Zhiwang, a great Confucian scholar of the Guanzhong region, became a physician through prolonged illness. He compiled the Compendium of Jiyin and Compendium of Jiyang, and specialized particularly in gynecology.